The ROI of buyer personas: get the most out of your marketing campaigns 

Gain insights into your prospects using buyer personas

Recent marketing surveys indicate that 81% of B2B buyers choose the company that provides the best buying experience and that 50% stopped buying from a current provider because a competitor provided a better buying experience (Salesforce). How to provide a better customer experience? By truly knowing your buyer. That’s where buyer personas come into play. 

To explore the power of buyer personas, I interviewed Adele Revella, author of the book Buyer Personas, some time ago. Her book is a B2B best seller and a very valuable read!

Let’s start with the basics: What is a buyer persona, and how can it be the secret to supercharging our marketing efforts? 

“A buyer persona is a portrait of your ideal customers. It helps you understand how your buyers make decisions and their journey from awareness to buying the product, allowing us to deliver extraordinary buying experiences.  

With buyer personas, we can tailor our marketing strategies precisely to our customer’s needs, desires, and preferences, resulting in a competitive edge that drives growth and customer loyalty.” 

At SPOTONVISION, a buyer persona project covers far more than a typical buyer’s profile, we look at the profound insights of buying, revealing triggers, barriers and decision criteria throughout the entire buyer journey. And we always create a content plan based on the insights. This way the buyer persona project turns into an ‘actionable deliverable’.  

What is the most asked question about buyer personas? 

“They usually ask: How many buyer personas do I need; people think about this all the time, do I need, 3 or 10?  

The key is to focus on the fewest personas possible. Each persona should represent a significant segment of your target audience, allowing you to create impactful marketing strategies without overcomplicating your approach. The goal is efficiency and relevance, not an exhaustive list of personas that may lead to confusion.” 

What about companies with many different product lines? Should they create a multitude of buyer personas for each offer? 

“Great point. Instead of getting lost in a sea of personas based on products, shift your focus to the buyers themselves. Identify common challenges or problems your customers seek to solve.

Often, multiple products or solutions cater to similar needs. Looking at this from your buyer’s perspective ensures that your marketing speaks directly to their desires, fostering meaningful connections.” 

Let’s address a concern many CMOs face—showcasing the value of buyer personas. How can we present a compelling business case for buyer persona research? 

“What’s the ROI of knowing more than your competitors on how to influence your buyer’s buying decisions? The business case for buyer personas is rooted in delivering an unbeatable customer experience, better than your competitor.”

“Imagine sales and marketing efforts that align perfectly with what your buyers want to hear. By truly understanding your buyers, you gain a competitive edge, enabling you to position products and services as the most appealing solutions in the market.”  

 Read more: 7 considerations before starting a buyer persona project.

Adele, you’ve worked with international companies. What unique challenges do they face concerning their target buyers in multi-country scenarios? 

“International markets indeed present diverse challenges. It is crucial to start by understanding the buying decision and then exploring how decision-makers in different countries think. Conducting qualitative interviews across regions allows you to uncover both shared patterns and cultural nuances.” 

 Read more: 3 realistic scenarios when creating cross border buyer personas

How can marketers make the most of buyer personas to drive their marketing strategies? 

“Start small and focused! Begin with a pilot initiative tied to a critical business goal. A targeted approach lets you witness the immediate impact of buyer personas, validating their value to your company’s growth.  

“Start in one area, around a market you want to enter, a product you want to launch, a place where competitors are starting to be more successful than you’d like.” 

 Read more: Indeed’s success story – from buyer personas to successful ABM campaigns

After creating buyer personas, some companies struggle with execution. How can CMOs ensure their teams act on the persona insights effectively? 

“The key is collaborating with your team to build messaging and content marketing strategies based on the personas. By ensuring alignment, you foster a culture that values and acts on the insights.” 

Lastly, how often should marketers update their personas, and what are your insights on maintaining them effectively? 

“People often worry about frequent updates, but it’s essential to remember that buyer personas revolve around buying decisions. Only when the market changes impact the buyers’ decision-making, significantly, e.g. COVID-19, should you revisit and update your personas. The signs will become evident. This makes the process simpler than expected.” 

 Read more: When to validate your personas

What’s your vision for the future of buyer personas in B2B marketing?  

“The future holds exciting possibilities! My vision is to see Sales and Marketing united by shared persona insights, creating powerful battle cards and sales playbooks. This collaborative approach will transform how we persuade buyers, forging a strong alliance between sales and marketing. In the future of B2B, buyer personas will play an even more integral role in bridging the gap between Sales and Marketing.

By fostering a shared understanding of our goals to persuade buyers, sales and marketing can become a unified powerhouse driving the company towards unparalleled success.” 

Conclusion 

At SPOTONVISION we see new technology influencing buyer persona research: Artificial Intelligence. We see how AI can help create accurate, dynamic persona profiles as a basis. In B2B and in complex buying research, we need much more than a profile though. Depending on the type of purchase decision, only interviews with real-life buyers can help you understand complex B2B buying behaviour. This way you get more than just a profile, you get a persona, a journey and a great starting point for creating successful content.  

That content, by the way, can be produced much faster these days by AI, and there’s your key to speed, efficiency and success!